Staff of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Awuni Akyireba, has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the hospital, Dr. Oheneba Owusu Danso, over allegations of misappropriation of COVID-19 funds.
The petitioner accused the Hospital’s management of misusing the COVID-19 funds that were accrued by the management of the health facility during the height of the pandemic in 2020.
“That the CEO at a performance review meeting and business meeting of the hospital has stated that all the directorates of the hospital incurred losses in the year under review which cumulative loss was about Ghc 6.2million wherefore the hospital was unable to pay end of the year 2020 bonuses to members of staff and meet the logistical needs of the hospital. And just on the 29th of October, 2021, the Acting Head of Directorate of Trauma and Orthopaedics Directorate had to write to suspend all orthopaedics surgeries at the A&E theatre due to unavailability of theatre tables,” the petitioner said.
Despite owning an official Nissan SUV 2016 vehicle which was given to him upon his appointment, Mr. Akyireba, said, management has bought two additional luxurious Toyota Camrys of 2020 model for the pleasure and comfort of the CEO, and the Medical Director, Prof. Baafuor Kofi Opoku.
Akyireba is also perturbed that management could afford two luxurious Toyota Camry cars at $58,000 each yet failed to provide the needed logistics for the hospital.
That KATH faces a lot of challenges such as inadequate beds that have resulted in deaths of patients, lack of laboratory reagents to run basic Labs tests like HBA1C, LFT, Beta-HCG, PSA, hepatitis C RNA, Spoilt elevators at D-block and C-block, leaking roofs when it rains, clumsy and unkempt floor of the wards, broken windows that allow mosquitoes to infest patients with additional sickness on the ward among a slew of others, he said in the peertition.
He indicated that the act constitutes an abuse of public office since the wife of the Medical Director is not an employee of KATH.
He also alleged in his request to the CHRAJ that that the wife of the Medical Director who is not an employee of KATH, used official car of the hospital and had an accident with it which he said constitute an abuse of public office by the medical director.
“Have my assurance to assist you fully in this endeavour to punish any wrong doing and to sanitize the management system of our only premier tertiary hospital serving Asanteman to enhance quality health care that Asanteman and its environs deserve”.
